Smooth Diplomacy
by Mind Shadow
Summary: Robin’s been spending most of his time with Starfire. But will he regret this when he sees how much more fun the team is having without him?
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer**: The Teen Titans is not under my ownership.  
**Summary**: Robin's been spending most of his time with the resident princess, but will he soon regret this decision when he sees how much more fun the team is having together…?  
**Author's Note**: This is my long overdue 'friendship' story for SweetNCrazieSugarmuffin. I hope you enjoy Bria! This one especially goes out to you._

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Smooth Diplomacy**

Perhaps the most interesting fact about the weather that day was how drastically it changed from a seemingly irrevocable heat to a chilling cold in a matter of minutes. It hadn't dawned on them that maybe winter had decided to bluster by earlier than the seasons of change had forecasted.

In any case, the situation was gravely unfortunate for the Titans, crushing their plans for a long anticipated stroll in the park that pleasant evening. What made matters even worse was that the annual carnival was hosting its last opening on that same day. The green little changeling moaned and groaned as he and the rest of the supernatural teenagers unwillingly entered their home. They all sighed at _another_ free day wasted.

"Why does this always happen to us! It's not fair!" he cried. As he rambled away towards the kitchen, the rest of the team gloomily headed for the living room hearing faint phrases of disappointment such as "...it decides to be cold now..." or "... why today of all days?..."

Aggravated at his childish antics, a glint in the psychic's eye insinuated a desire to shut the boy up. Upon noticing this, the leader of the group summoned her attention and simply shook his head with disapproval of her obvious agenda.

"Alright, listen up everyone." Said leader gathered the remaining three's attention. A slight rhythm in his voice evoked a form of command and leadership. "We can still go outside, but we have to wear jackets or else we'll get sick. Or, we can stay at home and entertain ourselves here." He stiffly stood in place, standing his ground in preparation for his team's normally random responses.

"Hell yeah I'm going outside! I don't even feel the cold!" Cyborg's voice shackled like thunder inside the echo-friendly living room, causing a hint of discomfort for his comrades' ears. "Come on BB! Turn into a snow wolf or something; we're going out to the carnival!"

The older titan cheerfully called out to his friend who immediately paid heed to the call by transforming into a snow wolf. The two Titans, without regard to the team, merrily zoomed out of the Tower. A distraught blonde grumbled something underneath her breath before she soon followed suit. "Wait up guys!" Terra groaned.

"What about you two?" Robin pressed on. His eyes rested blankly at the alien princess, studying her naivety of the situation with sheer amusement.

"I shall join the three as well. My skin will not be caught in a frost-bite." A satisfied smile charmed her lips, acknowledging how proud she was of her execution of 'the right words'. Her leader grinned as well, encouraging the situation. Without excusing herself either, the empath teleported out of the common room, leaving Robin and Starfire to _fluff_ the day away.

The psychic soared over the city for several minutes, catching a quiet glimpse of the afternoon sun before joining the others. Raven wouldn't admit why she took the time to gaze at such an uncomplicated wonder of the world, but either way her heart always gravitated towards its soothing warmth. After a moment's worth of silence and a breath of sweet bliss, Raven teleported behind her friends just in time to hear Beast Boy's plan of action.

"So guys, what do you wanna do first? I got dibs on Cy." Beast Boy announced. It was definitely strange seeing a snow wolf in the middle of a public festival, let alone a green snow wolf. But what made the situation more disturbing was that the green snow wolf was talking rather than barking.

"I don't know. I'll most likely hang out with tofu-head and tin-man here. How about you Rae?" Terra forwarded the question to Raven. The blonde comfortably leaned her forearm on Cyborg's shoulder, exchanging smirks of delight with the cybernetic before returning her attention to the reclusive psychic.

"I don't know; maybe I'll take a stab at getting that giant chicken again." The other three laughed in amusement at her sarcastic monotone. Admittedly, Raven was still as withdrawn as ever, but she was definitely coming out of her emotional shell little by little with each passing day. Raven simply rolled her eyes at the gang's reaction. _'Was my joke really that funny?'_

"It's settled then." Cyborg inserted, "The four of us are gonna have a good time while Robin and Star do whatever it is they like doing. Yo Terra, you think you can heat us up a bit?"

Nodding, Tara's hands immediately blazed an eerie golden light which she pulled over her head, mentally struggling in her mind to slightly crack the park's outer borders. Not long afterwards, her eyes throttled beams of powerful light exposing the difficulty she had with her task.

Raven empathically sensed that her intention was to crack open the border's grounds so that a limited amount of warmth could bounce off from underneath the surface and onto the park. It was complicated yet clever, and considering how much effort it required to carefully cut slits around the entire park, Raven couldn't help but smile.

"All done." Terra beamed with content at the awe-inspired civilians around them. Everyone around the Titans removed their parkas and sweaters as quickly as the chilly draft of wind swept passed. "I didn't affect the uppermost layer of the Earth's plates so the cracks should gradually close together in a day or two." Terra reported to Cyborg.

"Alright then, let the fun begin! To the bumper cars!" Cyborg roared. It was only a few yards away from them, but he obviously motioned for the idea of a race. "On my mark, get set…" Cyborg eyed down his teammates. Terra had already lifted a boulder from seemingly out of nowhere and was leaning forward against it, Beast Boy morphed into a cheetah, and Raven was… well, Raven was just standing there. Deciding that the time was right, he finally boomed the word "Go!"

In a flash of sound Cyborg activated his sonic boots and zoomed towards the registration desk in a flurry of speed. Terra launched pebbles at Cyborg who easily maneuvered around them, forcing Terra to avert her concentration on Beast Boy, who wasn't as fortunate. By simply raising a platform of rock in front of him, the changeling smashed head strong into it, thus knocking him out of the race.

Terra and Cyborg glared each other down, gritting their teeth in pure spite. Slowing their speed a notch, both of them realized that it required luck to reach the desk first, acknowledging the fact that both were on the same level of velocity. As the suspense heightened and the anticipation of the winner came to an unforgiving high, Raven was just about finished signing the list of participants on the front desk.

Within a blink of an eye, it became quite apparent that Terra's brown boot was the one to touch the receptionist's desk first. Cyborg rushed in a second later, a tear sliding down his handsome face.

"Oh yeah!" The winner, on the other hand, was as passionate and lively as ever. The supple blonde jumped in joy at her victory, savoring the moment of kicking the robot-man's butt. "Who owes me a soda? _Whoooo_ owes _meeee_ a soda?" Terra chanted in glee. Beast Boy meekly ambled miserably towards his two best friends, cradling the protruding bump on his forehead.

"Actually, you owe _me_ a soda." The three titans broke out of their own individual thoughts and looked in the direction of the bumper-car arena, only to find Raven _already_ seat belted in a purple vehicle. Terra was now the one shedding tears of disappointment, muttering words such as _unfair_ and others of the like. "Well are you three coming in or not? The receptionist is waiting for you three, just in case you were wondering."

Terra hopped into Raven's car, riding as shotgun. "Alright guys, its girls against guys. Me and Raven versus you and Beast Boy." Terra competitively spat at her cybernetic rival. He and the little changeling contemplated the idea, whispering to each other what eventually became the stakes for the contest.

"Okay, no powers that mess up any chance of us hitting you guys. That means no shields Raven and no ground-moving Terra." Beast Boy glowered at his own rival, who shot back a glare far more threatening than his own. "And whoever loses has to give Starfire a kiss on the lips, _each of you_. Deal or no deal." The two rugrats gave each other high fives, thinking that they've got the game in the bag.

The empath turned to Terra with an evil grin. _'Terra, my mind is a playing field they forgot to mention, so we'll be one step ahead of them as long as we can read their thoughts. You game?'_ She telepathically asked. Terra maliciously nodded, allowing Raven to declare their agreement to the boys' terms.Cyborg sprinted over to a silver car with Beast Boy next to him. The four obviously didn't notice the 'oooohs' and 'aaaaahs' of the children around them, intent on figuring out how to win the competition instead.

Closing the gate shut, the receptionist turned the key and the vehicles were activated. Unlike other rinks, these bumpers were sensitive to impact. If the front bumper was hit, that car earned points, but if the back and side bumpers her hit, than the car would lose points. It was a little advancement in technology the carnival made due to Cyborg's involvement in last year's configuration setup.

_Beep…_  
and the competitors were off.

'_Hey, Cy, lets go around them and hit them from behind…_' Terra used Raven's mind link to listen in on Beast Boy's thoughts. Apparently he was so stupid that he would suggest something as mediocre as that, so Terra adjusted the link to listen in on Cyborg's thoughts. She heard nothing.  
"Raven," Terra nudged, "I can't hear Cyborg's thoughts." Raven was shuffling around a little boy's car, dodging his strike and slipping out of Cyborg's auto-attack as well.

"That's because he's only half human; I'm not talented enough to listen in on both of their minds, so try to focus on Beast Boy's. It requires my skills to invade Cyborg's mental barriers." Raven answered. After agreeing to Raven's proposal, Terra stood up and looked around for any incoming cars. The psychic's hands glided smoothly over the wheel, whizzing passed a congregation of cars that didn't seem to know what was happening.

"The only way to beat the master of driving," Raven whispered to herself, "is to think like the master of driving. Azaroth Metrione Zynthos…" In an instant, she clearly heard the ideas racing through her friend's mind. '_Raven doesn't know how to drive that well, so if I can get her stuck between those two cars, I can hit her from the side.'_

A smile graced Raven's face. All she needed to do was get one point before the minute was over, and now that she knew what his scheme was, her success with Terra was completely guaranteed. Raven proceeded to drive between the two cars Cyborg predicted her to pass through, but before he could turn fast enough to strike her, Raven zoomed ahead and scurried heatedly around, making a ninety degree turn.

As they were about to hit the side of Cyborg's car, the silver vehicle rocketed around unexpectedly and dodged the attack, hurling itself mercilessly at Raven's rear soon afterwards. By the time Cyborg acquired the point, the bell had already rung. '_What happened? I thought he didn't see it coming.'_

"Raven, Raven, Raven…" Cyborg cooed, "I knew you were going to invade my head. But you forgot one thing. My cybernetic calculations are _not_ part of my brain and it compensated for my human instincts. Woot! You gotta kiss Starfire now! Ahahahaha!" He and Beast Boy broke in a fit of laughter, but Raven and Terra were pretty sure Beast Boy didn't know what he was laughing about.

"I just checked, Raven." Terra deadpanned, "He doesn't know what he's laughing about." After dealing with the boys snicker all throughout the ending process of the bumper car arena, they all realized that the night was young, and more fun was sure to come… except for the dreaded kiss when they return home. Yuck.

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_**Ending Note**: Yay! I released it! I hope you liked it guys! It wasn't romantic, I know, but it's going to end with Robin and Raven next chapter. Okay, see y'all later! Holler!_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer**: The Teen Titans are not under my ownership.  
**Summary**: Robin's been spending most of his time with the resident princess, but will he soon regret this decision when he sees how much more fun the team is having together…?  
**Author's Note**: Yay! I got reviews! I was surprised, truthfully. I didn't know people went for the anti-romance kind of stories. Well, this is the second-to-last chapter and I'd like to thank everyone who supported this story! I'm very happy to know that you guys enjoyed it.  
_

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Smooth Diplomacy**

"Terra, I asked you to get me blue cotton candy. What is this?" Beast Boy was tugging on Terra's last nerves. She'd been sent three times to buy cotton candy for him. The first time she was sent to buy him rainbow cotton candy, the second pink, and the third blue, and all three accounts ended with the same conclusion: she got the _wrong_ one.

"Listen Beast _Boy_; just because I lost to you in Tekken 5 because of a controller malfunction, it doesn't mean I magically become your maid." Terra huffed in anger. She could've sworn steam was plummeting through her nose like an angry bull staring down a bright red flag… well in this case, a bright green flag. "You know the arcades here are whacked!"

"Come on Terra! If you'd stop getting the wrong one maybe I won't ask you so much!" The young changeling justified. If this didn't work he could always resort to morphing into that damned kitten Terra was so fond of snuggling in her arms. That _always_ did the trick.

"I _never_ get the wrong one because every time I come back, the cotton candy I last left you with is always finished." She parried. "If you keep insisting I got you the wrong one then stop eating the damn candies I got you!" An electrical tension arose between the two, glaring each other down so dangerously that the incident would've done Raven justice.

"I didn't eat them!" Beast Boy spat in denial. The boy scowled in an artificial pain that suggested his disbelief in how she could possibly accuse him of doing such a horrible thing. "And besides," he added, "what makes you so sure I ate them?"

"If you didn't eat them,' Tara deadpanned, "than why are there tiny pieces of colored sugar spitting out of your mouth whenever you talk?" Her green companion huskily laughed, slowly pacing backwards in case the frustrated blonde did anything drastic. "Whatever, that's the last one you're getting. Where's Cyborg and Raven anyway? They were supposed to meet us here half an hour ago." 

"Maybe Raven went all emo-goth on Cy and now he has to deal with her crazy demon powers…" He blankly suggested, only to be corrected shortly afterwards with a stern "_ehem_…" Raven and Cyborg were striding towards them with satisfied smiles. Cyborg was carrying a bag of … _stuff_, while Raven had her arms wrapped around a giant chicken.

"Where have you guys been? I've been stuck with Beast Boy for an entire hour. And we were supposed to meet here, near the merry-go-round, a half an hour ago!" Terra stated if not shrieked in one long and breathless sentence. It took her a while to regain that loss of air. Cyborg beamed a knowing smirk at his gaming friend and settled the bag down next to Beast Boy, teasing him with the bag of 'goodies'.

"We ate, we talked, we passed by a video game vendor, and I won a giant chicken." Raven answered Terra's long awaited question. "Cyborg, do you want me to teleport our stuff home?" She offered. Cyborg enthusiastically nodded, overjoyed with the assured safety of his video games. Raven generated a tiny black disk in front of her and stuffed her giant chicken inside, throwing Cyborg's bag inside the miniature portal soon afterwards.

"So," Cyborg rumbled, "are y'all ready for the ultimate Merry-Go-Round experience?" Changeling slightly cringed as his inquisitive cybernetic eye stared all of them down. "I modified the mechanics a bit from last year. We decided that after eight the speed of the merry-go-round would go extremely fast. Its already 7:59 and we're standing right in front of it. Y'all up to it?"

"Sure, why not." Raven monotoned.  
"I'm cool with that." Terra joined in.

"Wha-what happened?" Beast Boy asked with dumb interest. Terra rolled her eyes and pulled the stupid boy with her, following Cyborg and Raven towards the ride. The fee was normally two dollars a person, but because of Cyborg's _connections_, all four of them got in for free. After hearing an announcement about how the merry-go-round was going to be spinning faster than normal, the Titans mounted on one of the twirling teacups.

It was weird to see four adult teenagers cramped inside a medium-sized teacup, let alone considering how tall they were. What made it even stranger was that these young adults all bore serious expressions on their faces, sincerely anticipating the start of the ride. Each of them sat in their own corner of the cup, ready for the ride to start. '_I can't believe I'm doing this…'_ Raven thought.

_Buzz…_

And the ride started. At first, the speed was gradual, and the twirling teacup didn't twirl too fast. But the ride soon picked up speed and the twirling teacup was indeed twirling them to a spinning insanity. Raven could see Terra, who was sitting directly in front of her, melt into a haze, while everything else behind her liquefied into a mesh of insubstantial colors.

"_Cyborg_," Raven telepathically cried out, "_the speed is too dangerous, even for us Titans_…" They were all pinned on their backs due to the straining speed forcing them up against the inner teacup wall. Beast Boy and Terra seemed helpless in the speed sitting flat against the inner wall of the teacup, so Cyborg's brute strength and Raven's telekinetic support were their only hopes of stopping the ride from proceeding any further.

"_Tell the receptionist to stop the ride; either that or teleport out of here_!" Cyborg responded through the mental connection. By now he was struggling to force himself off from the miniature wall, desperately reaching out a hand for the wheel in the middle of the cup.

"_I did! He can't stop it! And if I teleport my body will end up in pieces. I need to concentrate in order to teleport_." Raven was also attempting to reach the middle of the cup, using her telekinesis as a rope to pull herself towards it. The velocity of the ride grew fiercer and fiercer, reaching to such a point that a mini tornado could possibly be achieved given enough time. Everything around the merry-go-round started to whip around in dangerous blows of wind. Luckily enough in the midst of this chaos, Raven saw from the corner of her eye a streak of hot pink energy…

"_Jinx is here! She's messing up the ride! We're going to have to work together!" _Raven finally reached the middle of the cup, holding onto the wheel for support while kneeling down with Cyborg next to her. "_If we don't do something fast, everyone on this ride will die of heart failure or loss of oxygen_."

"_So what do you want to do?_" Cyborg intently awaited his orders. If anyone could get them out of this mess, it would be Raven.

"_I can feel her energy signature. You're going to have to shoot a sonic blast outside, but you have to shoot **exactly** when I tell you to. This will only work with careful precision, or else you might end up killing an innocent._" Cyborg confirmed his task and prepared his blaster, using a spare wire in his arm to steady his 'handgun' against the wheel. At length, Raven concentrated on locating Jinx's exact coordinates outside of the merry-go-round.

"_Cyborg, get ready…_" Once the psychic pinpointed where Jinx precisely was, Raven was then to calculate how much time it required to shoot the darned witch with accuracy. Two rounds… six rounds… twelve rounds and she still wasn't ready. They only had one chance to accomplish this endeavor correctly, so Raven disciplined herself to wait for the perfect time. On their lucky 20th turn around, Raven mentally yelled the order "_Go_!"

A wave of cerulean energy shot from within the spinning havoc and as intended, the probability witch was directly hit. After a minute of much needed time, the ride decelerated into what a normal merry-go-ride would've been. Civilians inside were crying in both terror and relief, all alleviated from their possible demises. Terra and Beast Boy began to soothe their numbed heads, regaining steady consciousness of the world. Cyborg and Raven heavily sighed at their slim success.

"Our job isn't done yet. Titans, Go!" Cyborg commandingly ordered. Raven rose into the night skies with her cloak transcendently rattling behind her whilst Terra and Beast Boy leapt out of the cup on their own accord.

Cyborg attended to the traumatized passengers of the merry-go-round while Raven saw to it that there weren't any severe damages to the merry-go-round's expensive equipment. By this time Jinx rose to her feet with the help of her two comrades.

Terra glided over to the three villains with Beast Boy hurrying behind her in stallion form.

"Hey krud-faces, what's your problem?" The tiny member of the opposite team squealed. Mammoth was gently helping Jinx to her feet.

"What do you mean what's _our_ problem? What's _your_ problem?" Beast Boy snarkly responded. Terra had already lifted two boulders from the ground as an arsenal of projectiles in case the three decided to strike. "And besides, what are you three doing here?"

"What, we can't have fun in a public carnival?" Jinx regained her composure and strolled smugly towards the two titans. They weren't attired in combat outfits, so Terra and Beast Boy considered if there was some truth to what they were saying.

"No, you can't have _fun_ in a public carnival; not when you're endangering peoples' lives." Raven elegantly landed on the ground opposite Jinx with a demeanor that was anything but friendly.

"Come on Jinx. These guys are being lame. Besides, we got my video game anyway. Let's juts go home." A sadistically cruel smile edged on Jinx's lips, revealing her amusement with the situation. Technically speaking, the Titans couldn't prove that she was the reason behind the sudden speed of the merry-go-round, so any accusations would be just that, _accusations_.

"You're lucky Gizmo isn't looking for a fight today. Better watch your back next time Raven." Taking a step backward, Jinx snapped both of her fingers and in a flash of pink light, the three were gone.

"Man, what was their problem?" Tara restored the boulders back into the ground. It seemed that even in relaxation trouble would eventually ensue wherever the Titans were present. Just as the three started to go back and inform Cyborg on what happened, their fearless leader's voice firmly called after them with a girly gasp echoing shortly in support.

"Raven, Terra, Beast Boy, what happened here?" Robin was marching towards them with a demanding face. What he saw and what he knew was still a mystery to the three Titans, so Terra decided to be the 'man' of the three and spoke up to answer.

"Jinx decided to screw the ride up so we sorta settled it...and no, we couldn't lock them up because we don't have solid evidence that they did it. The passengers are being taken care of now by Cy." Terra halfheartedly updated. "By the way, where's Starfire?"

"Starfire's been sitting on the Ferris wheel since we got here, and she still doesn't want to get off. When I saw the commotion here while we were riding the Ferris, I decided to take a look for myself." Robin dully reported.

"So shouldn't you be heading back there now?" Raven interjected. The three titans all wore quizzical faces, obviously expecting him to stroll back to the Tameranian princess. He didn't understand why they were so bent on getting rid of him, and it pained him in some way to feel excluded from the team. Robin could sense that a bond was growing between the other four Titans while he was left with a whining baby of a woman. He couldn't help but feel…_lonely_.

They were all so close now, unbreakable even, and he didn't know if another person could be added into the mix. Either way, he could still try. "Actually, she preferred to be by herself for the rest of the day… so do you think I can hang out with you guys? That is if you don't mind…" Robin timidly asked.

"Of course you can." Raven bluntly permitted. "Its not like we're in some private club."  
"Yeah, it'll be fun with you around Robin!" Terra assured in glee. "But I suggest you hang out with Raven because once me, robot-man, and salad-head here get on a roll, we can get very crazy." She quickly followed up. And with that affirmation, the four Titans headed to give Cyborg a helping hand; while Robin made extra sure that he followed Terra's suggestion, huddling closer to Raven during the walk there.

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_**Ending Note**: Okay, not that much Robin and Raven, but it's a start and I did technically 'end' it with Robin and Raven. Hehehe, please don't hate me. Well, the next chapter is the last one, but on the meantime, please review!_


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